The Healthy Italian Diet
Italy wasn't able to overcome a history of food scarcity until the latter half of the 20th century. But ironically that history of food scarcity has made Italians respectful eaters and has contributed to the healthfulness of the Italian diet. Take heart and allow this to assist you in your weight loss efforts.
Italians eat little meat compared to Americans. The typical diet of Italians is low in animal fat because traditionally people could only afford meat on special occasions. Even now they rely on a diet of grains, fruits and vegetables, olive oil, fish and legumes. This means their diet is high in fiber, which, as you know, keeps a person satisfied from meal to meal. Which means less desire for snacking.
A history of food scarcity also caused Italians to be as creative as possible with what they had to eat. Hence an emphasis on freshness and only the best ingredients. Cooks learned to wring every possible ounce of flavor from their humble fare, because they wanted to make it as tasty and satisfying as possible. To this day, the hallmark of Italian cooking is its reliance on quality ingredients, plus its simplicity and freshness -- the things that make it such a pleasure to cook and eat.
When you learn to enjoy the bounty of seasonal harvests as Italians do...when you start enjoying fresh-from-the-farm food choices...in short, when you start eating like an Italian from Italy your dining pleasure will increase even if you eat smaller portions. And it will simplify your life as well.
With just a few simple ingredients -- such as pasta, olive oil, garlic, salt and pepper and some vegetables from your garden (or market), you can whip up something flavorful in about the same amount of time as it takes to prepare your pasta. Once you've mastered the essentials (like sauteing garlic!) you can do a million things with them.
At last count there were over 300 types of pastas, including regional and local varieties. Taking that into consideration, plus the number of sauces a person could make, it's conceivable that you could eat pasta every day for a year and never, ever eat the same thing twice!
If you tire of the pastas you know and love, you can experiment with farro, an ancient type of pasta that was said to feed the Roman Legions, or spelt, which was so highly regarded that Romans offered it to the gods.
The passion Italians put into the enjoyment of food is evident from the way they grow it, to the way it's sold, to the way it's cooked and finally eaten. When you put that kind of passion into food, you won't want to put junk in your mouth, and that alone can't help but make you start to look and feel better.
By the way, did you know that Italy has a national law that dictates what can be called an authentic Neapolitan pizza? (That's a pizza from Naples, birthplace of the dish.) Among other things, a pizza Napoletana can only be made with extra virgin olive oil and tomatoes grown in the ash-rich soil around Mount Vesuvius (which produces particularly delicious tomatoes.)
Now that's attention to detail! With that kind of fastidiousness, is it any wonder that Italians are slender and well fed?
And after their Pizza Napoletana, they are likely to eat fruit for dessert -- if anything -- not some rich dessert.
So keep that in mind: fresh food from quality ingredients, simply prepared -- or right off the branch or vine!